Issue Brief

Fewer than 10 percent of births in the United States involve a doula. Increasing access to safe and effective doula care could decrease the high maternal morbidity and mortality rate in the U.S. This issue brief examines the role of doulas, state regulation of doulas, and how to expand doula care access and coverage through policy.

This Issue Brief, part of a series of analyses looking at resolutions declaring racism a public health crisis in each region of the country, summarizes resolutions in the northern U.S. states of Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. This analysis focuses primarily on resolutions passed by state and local governments, including city councils, county boards, city and county executives, school boards, and boards of health.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, Public Law 104-191 (HIPAA) applies to many local public health departments (LHDs). This issue brief helps public health practitioners, and their attorneys understand how HIPAA applies to LPHDs, the steps an LPHD must take to become a HIPAA hybrid entity, and discusses how these decisions directly impact data sharing, operations, compliance burden, and risk.

Individuals returning from incarceration have more healthcare needs than the general population but face numerous barriers to receiving care. Specially trained community members with lived experience of incarceration, serving in the role of community health worker (CHW), are uniquely effective at engaging returning community members in health services. This issue brief provides examples of key legal barriers that may be encountered by individuals with incarceration histories who are seeking employment as CHWs along with ways in which policymakers and health systems can address these barriers.

This issue brief examines the end of multiple COVID-19 enhanced government authorities and the significant implications related to the cost and availability of COVID-19 vaccines and tests, telehealth and HIPAA flexibilities, Medicare and Medicaid expansions, private health insurance coverages, and immigration policies.

The majority of abortions in the U.S. are medical abortions, a safe and effective method for early pregnancy, initiated by patients using a medication regimen. Medical abortions, also called chemical abortions or abortion pills, are one of the new battlegrounds on which political and legal wars are being fought. This fact sheet provides information on the drug regimen for medication abortion and current legal challenges to their use.

In summer 2020, as the disparities in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths continued to worsen and amid racial justice protests following the murder of George Floyd, cities, counties, states, and other agencies and organizations increasingly issued formal resolutions declaring racism a public health crisis. This Issue Brief is the third in a series of updated analyses looking at resolutions issued in each region of the country based on the Network’s regional offices. These analyses will focus primarily on state and local government entities, including city councils, county boards of commissioners (BOC), city and county executives, school boards, and boards of health (BOH).

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (commonly known as the WIC program) is the third largest food and nutrition assistance program in the U.S. In 2020 alone, WIC served approximately 6.2 million participants a month, including almost half of all infants born in the country. The COVID-19 pandemic forced the program to expand benefits and alter its administration in ways that have greatly improved participants' lives. This issue brief evaluates the COVID-19 changes to the WIC program and assesses the current issues with the Program highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic. It also provides policy recommendations to ensure greater participation and adequate benefits for participants.

This issue brief examines evidence of racial disparities with respect to COVID-19 infections and deaths, possible causes, and legal protections against race discrimination. It also provides an overview of CSC planning, including key ethical features that may be utilized to ensure that CSC planning incorporates concerns about racial inequity.

This resource assesses suicide risk among communities of color and demonstrates why the demands of racial health equity require taking the problem of police violence seriously and creating systems that reduce contact with police. It also identifies opportunities for limiting the role of law enforcement in suicide prevention and law and policy pathways for how commitments set forth in declarations of racism as a public health crisis can be put into action.

This issue brief examines evidence of racial disparities with respect to COVID-19 infections and deaths, possible causes, and legal protections against race discrimination. It also provides an overview of CSC planning, including key ethical features that may be utilized to ensure that CSC planning incorporates concerns about racial inequity.

This issue brief provides resources and suggestions for state and local public health departments looking to address antibiotic resistance in their communities.